Dog days of summer? Not with these backyard games

John Bozarth, 6, right, makes a move to knock over homemade bowling pins while playing one of the games designed by kids for kids during the Clif Kids Playoffs for the Backyard Game of the Year contest. The event was ...
— James Gregg

Megan Davis, 9, of El Paso, TX plays a game called tic tac toe race, designed by 6 year old Joe Robertson. Games that were designed by kids for kids competed in the Clif Kids Playoffs for the Backyard Game ...
— James Gregg

Angela Hansen, left and her children Kayla Hansen, 10, and Zack Hansen, 8, continue on after the children had their skateboards signed by Tony Hawk. Hawk was a judge for games that were designed by kids for kids during the ...
— James Gregg

Tony Hawk signed autographs and judged games that were designed by kids for kids during the Clif Kids Playoffs for the Backyard Game of the Year contest. The event was held at NTC Park in Liberty Station and awarded four ...
— James Gregg

Katie Jackson, 12, wears giant sunglasses while preparing friends for a photo booth shoot the Clif Kids Playoffs for the Backyard Game of the Year contest. The event was held at NTC Park in Liberty Station and awarded four $1,000 ...
— James Gregg

Joseph Robertson 6, of Pensacola, FL, celebrates hearing that the game he invented, tic tac toe race, was awarded runner up at the Backyard Game of the Year contest. The event was held at NTC Park in Liberty Station and ...
— James Gregg

POINT LOMA  Once upon a time, in a magical land called The Past, children played outside. They ran around until they were exhausted, and then they ran around some more. They smiled when they won, they cried when they tripped and hurt their little knees, and cartwheels were the coolest way to get from one side of the park to the other.

iPhone? Wii? What’s that?

Things sure have changed, but for a few hours Saturday, children from around the country met up at Liberty Station in Point Loma for some good old-fashioned fun.

The occasion was the CLIF Kid Backyard Game of the Year “playoffs,” where children sampled new games created by other kids. Judges, including iconic pro skateboarder and Encinitas resident Tony Hawk, awarded scholarships and athletic swag like bikes and helmets to the winners.

The grand prize went to Card Sharks, a blend between a memory card game and a relay race. Players in teams run between two hula hoops, set at opposite ends of the backyard, and turn over cards inside the hula hoops. When they have a match, they collect that pair of cards and it’s the next teammate’s turn.

“It’s fun to do matching and run around,” said Benjamin McCarty, the 9-year-old champion, who came from Grandville, Mich. His family likes card games. One day, he decided to bring the cards outside. He started playing around and the game was born. He said he’s going to use his $10,000 scholarship “for college.”

Hawk and his fellow judges, a pair of children’s book authors, said they liked that many of the games were twists on old favorites. One finalist was a life-size grid called Tic Tac Go, created by a 6-year-old Florida boy, where players race to drop X and O pieces in a grid. In this version, they can knock each others’ pieces off and claim squares.

Get game rules here

Instructions for the games will be posted on the contest website in a few days. In the meantime, descriptions of the finalists are available online.

There are “so many challenges to get kids to be active these days, so I think encouraging them to create their own games is one of the best ways,” said Hawk. He judged the games based on “originality and not being complicated.”

“Just because I have kids, and I know that when rules get complicated, they start creating their own rules, and it becomes more arguments than fun.”

U-T San Diego conscripted three kid judges to ask their opinions on what game was the best. Here are their winners:

Shawn Ferguson, 9, of San Carlos

First prize: Dragon Frzz-Ball

In this game, kids run around and use tools to try to knock down the dragon eggs (water bottles) on the rival team. He liked it best "'cause it's really cool. You can run with it and stuff. It was a lot of fun."

For second prize, he chose Soccer Around the World, where players kick soccer balls into a goal while standing at stations named after continents scattered around the yard.